To date, the problems of disposing, storing and transporting discarded tires are many and varied. In recycling tires for fuel, scrap tires are normally cut into small chips. This has generally proved not to be cost effective since the cost of collecting, transporting and cutting the tires is frequently more than the return in value as fuel.
The dimensions of a tire make it difficult to stack tires in a low volume. In transporting tires to a recycling plant, motor trucks at times carry only about one-half of a full load by weight. Since a motor truck not loaded to its full weight potential costs very nearly as much to operate as one that is, the cost effectiveness of recycling scrap tires may be increased by increasing the weight load carried by the motor truck.
The weight load of scrap tires that may be carried by a motor truck can be increased by cutting the scrap tires into smaller pieces prior to placement into a motor vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,772 to Kisielewski discloses a mobile material cutter that makes a diametrical cut across a tire to halve the tire. While this halving of a tire permits an increased weight load for motor vehicles, a full load is still not possible. Likewise, quartering of a tire still will not permit full load transportation.
Tires are highly resilient. This resiliency is a result of bead wires which are positioned within the circumferential surface of the inside diameter of each side wall. Resiliency is necessary for the proper functioning of a tire but makes stacking, storing and reducing scrap tires burdensome. It is therefore desirable to remove the bead wires from a tire after the tire is no longer usable.
Not all scrap tires are recycled. Many tires are buried in land fills. However, tire carcasses have an inherent resistance to burial and a tire buried under five feet of dirt will often be back at the surface in ten years. Strict regulations have been enacted to govern burial of discarded tires. Again, it is critical to remove the bead wires from a tire. Devices for debeading a scrap tire are known. Such devices, however, are typically time consuming and labor intensive since an operator cuts one tire at a time after placing the tire over a cylindrical drum. Moreover, such devices are often inefficient.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which separates the bead wires of a tire from the outer casing. A further object is to provide such an apparatus which is both time and cost efficient.